Lawyer - Childcare

Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership; Stafford; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Staffordshire County Council seeks a qualified Lawyer to join the Staffordshire Legal Services team. Hybrid working is offered with office presence once a week and occasional extra attendance as needed.

You’ll provide high-quality legal support to the Council and external clients, developing your career in a collaborative environment across Staffordshire.

Qualifications

• A Solicitor with practising certificate, Fellow of CILEX with litigation/advocacy rights or a Barrister with practising certificate and authorisation to conduct litigation.
• Proven experience in the relevant legal area with limited supervision.
• Ability to communicate clearly in media forms and draft straightforward to moderately complex legal documents.

Responsibilities

• Completing all aspects of straightforward to moderately complex legal casework including drafting and negotiating complex documents.
• Representing the relevant client at case related meetings and conduct advocacy, including contested hearings.
• Achieving chargeable hour targets and maintain Lexcel time-recording compliance.
• Supervising and managing junior staff as requested.

Skills

Solicitor with practising certificate

Fellow of CILEX with litigation/advoc3

Barrister with practising certificate

Education

Solicitor qualification or Barrister qualifications

Job description

The following content displays a map of the jobs location - Staffordshire Place 1, Stafford

Are you a qualified legal professional looking for an opportunity to undertake meaningful, varied work that makes a real difference to communities?

Staffordshire County Council is seeking a talented Lawyer to join our highly regarded Staffordshire Legal Services team. Whether your experience comes from private practice, public sector, or a mixed legal background, this is an opportunity to develop your career within a collaborative and forward-thinking legal environment.

As part of an accredited professional advisory service, you'll provide high-quality legal support to the Council and a range of external clients, helping deliver services that positively impact residents, communities and partner organisations across Staffordshire.

We offer a hybrid working arrangement, with colleagues expected to work from the office at least one day each week. There will also be occasions when additional office attendance is required to support team, service or business needs.

Main Responsibilities

You will be involved in:

• Completing all aspects of straightforward to moderately complex legal casework including drafting and negotiating complex documents and working under limited levels of supervision in order to contribute to the service delivery outcomes.
• Representing the relevant client at all case related meetings and conduct advocacy, including contested hearings at appropriate court hearings.
• Achieving chargeable hour targets and maintain strict adherence to the Lexcel quality standard including time-recording.
• Supervising and managing junior staff as requested.

The Ideal Candidate

The minimum criteria that will be used to shortlist for this role will be:

• A Solicitor with practising certificate, Fellow of CILEX with litigation/advocacy rights or a Barrister with practising certificate and authorisation to conduct litigation.
• Have proven experience in the relevant legal area and demonstrate an understanding of the law relating to the role.
• Demonstrate experience of completing all aspects of relevant legal casework with limited supervision.
• Show an ability to clearly communicate in all media forms; verbally, digitally and in writing and an ability to draft straightforward to moderately complex legal documents.
• Ability to se their own initiative and will work well under pressure, meeting competing demands, and consistently maintaining a high standard of work.

No previous local government experience is necessary but you will be able to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the work done by this Council and operate comfortably alongside a professional client.

Interviews will be held on the 21st October 2026 in Stafford.

Please note: The minimum essential criteria in the ideal candidate section detailed above will be used if you are applying under one of our Interview Guarantee Schemes.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as yourapplication meets the minimum criteria for the post.